Thread by @ThePlumLineGS

Pay attention to this important new @adamliptak piece.

"Were the House to open impeachment proceedings against Trump, its right to gather information would be strengthened," Liptak writes, citing a House Watergate lawyer.

cc @jbview @jonathanchait

nytimes.com/2019/05/07/us/…

@adamliptak @jbview @jonathanchait One of the key points that this Liptak piece makes is that, in the face of maximal Trump/WH resistance, the oversight tools that House Dems are employing may *fail.*

This would leave an impeachment inquiry as the way to maximize leverage:

nytimes.com/2019/05/07/us/…

@adamliptak @jbview @jonathanchait We are now learning that DOJ is trying to get WH to exert executive privilege to keep unredacted Mueller report and underlying materials from Congress.

This will escalate. There is no point at which the administration will stop treating the House as fundamentally illegitimate.

@adamliptak @jbview @jonathanchait I've interviewed multiple legal experts on whether an impeachment inquiry would increase leverage to force WH cooperation with oversight.

Here's my first piece on this, quoting @RDEliason on why it could strengthen case for getting Trump's tax returns:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…

@adamliptak @jbview @jonathanchait @RDEliason Here's @JoshuaMatz8 on why an impeachment inquiry might strengthen the House Dems' legal hand against executive privilege claims:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…

@adamliptak @jbview @jonathanchait @RDEliason @JoshuaMatz8 Some argue this is a contested view. (cc @jbview and @jonathanchait)

True! But this @adamliptak
piece should force a discussion.

Shouldn't we explore this notion further before casting it aside?

The stakes of failure are very high, as I tried to argue:

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…